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energy noob

Want to save energy but have no clue where to start? Well, you're in the right place. Before checking out some products or services that can help you save energy at home, you may need a refresher on some of the basics. To begin with, you probably are interested in where you use energy in your home. Check out our education page on Home Energy Use where we discuss how much energy each home activity uses (spoiler alert: Heating and Cooling makes up the most of your home's energy consumption).

Keep in mind that the energy you use will depend on:

The climate you live in (mainly for heating and cooling)

The type, size, and orientation of your home (again, mainly for heating and cooling)

What type of energy you use (electricity powers most appliances, but heating our food, water, and homes can be done with electricity, natural gas, oil, geothermal or air source heat pump, etc.)

How many people live in your home

How active your home residents are in energy conservation

How efficient your energy consuming devices and appliances are

Even most energy saving newbies know that changing out incandescent light bulbs is a great first step. As you know, most incandescent lights will no longer be sold in the U.S. and quite frankly, we agree that the incandescent deserves its death. CFLs used to be the only affordable replacement option, but LEDs have come down in cost considerably. LEDs offer some advantages over CFLs like no mercury and longer life, but are still more expensive. We have a great list of some of the top residential LEDs on the market. You can also check out our lighting bulb, base, size and base educational post. You can see some of the LED bulbs featured in our Products section at the bottom of the page.

Knowing what to target is the first and most important step to saving energy. Once you have an idea of where to start, you should check out our Energy Afficianado page for some next steps including learning about What is a kWh and What is a therm and how to start home energy monitoring. You may also want to start looking into our Ways to Save page.

For Energy newbies who want to take a step back and learn a little more about how energy gets to their home, check out our education page on Where does US Electricity come from?

Thanks for visiting Mapawatt and hopefully we will be your favorite resource for energy education, energy product reviews and where you come to find out how to lower your energy bills!